Millennium Volunteers (MV)

Millennium Volunteers (MV) is part of a UK-wide programme supporting young people to make a commitment to volunteer for 200 hours in their community. It encourages 16-25 year olds to build on existing skills and interests and to gain new experiences by giving their time to worthwhile and well-organised volunteering activities. Their efforts are recognised through a 50 and 100 hour Certificate and 200 hour Award of Excellence signed by the First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government.

MV Information for young people aged 16 -25…

Why should you become an MV?

It’s a fun and rewarding way to spend some of your spare time.

It opens your eyes to other things that are going around you.

It can challenge you, your perceptions of other people, your knowledge and skills and can really help you develop in so many ways.

You can make new friends and volunteering can be great to talk about to your other friends.

It can even help you to think about what you may want to do in later life and try out different things to see if you enjoy them.

It also looks good on your CV or if you are trying to get into College or University.

Volunteer Centres across Wales have specialist advisors who can help you find something challenging and interesting and something that you will enjoy.

If you are aged 16 – 25 and want more information please contact our Youth Volunteering Development Officer, Ellen Jones.

MV is a volunteering programme which can run with or without a grant. There are currently three ways to be involved with MV in Wales and organisations and individuals should consider which is the most appropriate way for them to be involved;

1.Volunteer Centres

If you only have a few volunteers or you do not want to go through applying for the Award Status or the grant, then you can contact your local Volunteer Centre and ask to sign your young volunteers up as MVs with their Youth Volunteer Advisor (YVA).

Organisations can apply to receive an MV grant as part of the GwirVol grant streams. This can cover the expense of involving young people in volunteering with the organisation, such as travel, subsistence and training costs. There is also funding for some administration costs and support for volunteers from staff.

Although there are grants for running MV with your volunteers, it is also possible to apply for the right to run the MV programme and claim the certification for your volunteers without applying for a grant. This may suit organisations who already have funding from elsewhere or who do not want to go through the competitive grant process.